1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to a slit valve door and a method for sealing a chamber with a slit valve door.
2. Description of the Related Art
In semiconductor, flat panel display, photovoltaic/solar panel, and other substrate processing systems, it is common to arrange vacuum chambers (i.e., load locks, transfer chambers, process chambers) in a cluster, in-line, or a combination of cluster/in-line arrangements to process substrates. These systems may process substrates in single or batch substrate fashion. During processing, substrates may be transferred to and from chambers in which vacuum must be maintained or established. To allow access to the inside of the chamber, and to enable vacuum operation, an opening through the chamber wall in the shape of a slit is frequently provided to accommodate the substrate being processed.
At each interface between two vacuum chambers, a slit valve assembly may be present. A slit valve door may be movably actuated to open or close the slit valve passageway. The slit valve passageway, when open, permits one or more substrates to be transferred between the two vacuum chambers through the slit. When the slit valve passageway is closed by a slit valve door, substrates may not be transferred between the two vacuum chambers through the slit valve passageway and the two vacuum chambers are isolated from each other. For example, one of the vacuum chambers may be a process chamber which requires isolation from other chambers, such as other process chambers or a transfer chamber.
As the substrate size for manufacturing flat panel display grows, the manufacturing equipment for these substrates becomes larger in size as well. Accordingly, the door or gate that isolates one vacuum chamber (or load lock chamber) from another becomes larger or, more specifically, longer because the slot opening between the two chambers has to become longer to accommodate the large width of the substrate passing through the slot opening.
Therefore, there is a need for a slit valve door capable of sealing chambers used to process large area substrates.